Christmas Quinoa & Brown Rice Salad

October 14, 2018

Anyone else already set for Christmas? No, just me? Okay well I have been getting excited about the decorations, music and of course food for a while now and this is just one of the recipes we love making around that time of the year.

When Sam and I decided to eat a plantbased diet over 5 years ago one of the things we missed out on in the early days was eating with the family at Christmas time. Christmas food has traditionally been full of meat and dairy for my Italian family. Our food of choice for Christmas while growing up was always lasagne (with mince sauce and of course lots of cheese). Sam and I would make our own food and bring it along but it was usually very different to what everyone else was eating. However over the years we learned how to create similar dishes as well as fun dishes that we usually prepare only at Christmas time – I will try to add some of them here over the next month or so – ready for your Christmas table.

This salad isn’t necessarily “Christmas” only, we have made it at other times, but it’s a usual one for Christmas as evvvvveryone loves it and it’s just a real crowd pleaser (and it makes a big salad to feed the extended family). I hope you love it as much as we do!

Ingredients

2 cups Sunrice Gluten Free Rice & Quinoa *if you do not have this just use 1 cup of brown rice and one cup of quinoa

1 cup currents

1 red capsicum – diced

3 TBS sunflower seeds

1/2 cup raw cashews roughly chopped

1 large handful flat leaf parsley – roughly chopped

Dressing

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 TBS Tamari

3 x garlic cloves – crushed

3 drops Lemon Essential Oil

Method

Cook the brown rice and quinoa according to packet instructions. Combine all other salad ingredients in a large bowl. Add cooked rice and quinoa and mix through.

Place all dressing ingredients in a small jar and shake to combine. Pour over salad and top with extra raw cashews and some chopped parsley to garnish.